t had planned to be the last to
leave, expectant of ovation that should out-thunder all others, but the
officer in charge apparently would not see that regulations were being
ignored, that cadets were on their feet about the head of certain
tables, actually clinging to would-be going fellows, in unbecoming and
unaccustomed "cits," while he was forcibly restrained by none. So,
finally, waving his natty straw to table after table, he passed on to
the broad-arched entrance, the clamor of voice and the battering of the
old time iron stool beginning in kindly and cordial fashion--they would
not send a dog away, those big-hearted fellows, without some show of
friendliness--yet in all that array he numbered not one real friend,
for self-seeking had ever been his creed and there was no man of their
sturdy brotherhood that did not know it. Beneath the arch he turned and
gazed once more over the familiar scene, his eyes dry and glittering,
his throat dry and husky. Yearlings and some upper classmen were making
lively play with stamp and stool, but the din was more perfunctory than
powerful--nowhere near what had happened the moment before when two
well-beloved fellows, with bowed heads and moistened eyes, had fairly
rushed from the hall lest men should see that at last there had come
realization that this was the parting of the ways, that the daily habit
of four long years was shed forever, that to most of their number the
greeting of the gray battalion would be given never again. But he had
his wits about him, even then. He saw that now at last, with but four
minutes left before the companies must rise and quit the hall, Harris
was coming--the new-made first captain, adjutant and quartermaster
escorting--the commandants of table all over the hall springing to
their feet, and the wild rumble of hollow iron beginning the crescendo
of swift-coming, stupendous thunder, and Willett stood and swung his
hat, and classmates half-way down the slope turned back to see, and
understood without seeing, that there was something back of it besides
Willett. And then a tornado burst forth, as Harris, pale to the lips,
halted at the door. His escort sprang aside, and to a man the battalion
leaped to its feet and let go with voice and foot and hand, and the din
was deafening. One moment he stood there, trembling with emotion,
incapable of response, then whirled and darted down the steps, leaving
Willett to acknowledge the tremendous ovation that spe